Inside Unmanned Systems

AUG-SEP 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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10 August/September 2018 unmanned systems
inside
General Atomics MQ-9B flew from Grand Forks, North Dakota to the Farnborough
Airshow with 16 hours of fuel to spare.
WHY NOW?
The method behind all this madness
is a decision by The Bigs that the ma-
jor global civil aviation authorities are
finally serious about approving large
UAS commercial f light in controlled
airspace. The U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration (FA A) convened a
UAS in Controlled Airspace Aviation
R u le m a k i ng C om m i t t e e (A RC )
last fall, the British Civil Aviation
Authority approved the methodol-
ogy for beyond line of sight (BLOS)
operation for the MQ -9 f light to
RAF Fairford, and the Civil Aviation
Authority of Israel is putting the
Hermes 900 through the paces for
eventual type certification. These ad-
vancements, combined with a whole
host of nearly ready BLOS standards
from standards bodies ASTM and
RTCA, apparently convinced these
Bigs to pull the trigger on serious com-
mercial grade large UAS platforms.
Why did all three take pains to claim
they were "civil certifiable?" Why men-
tion it at all if there aren't rules for UAS
type certification? I think it's their way
of saying they're confident the UAS
will pass UAS type certification rules
when they come out. Even more impor-
tantly, it's an expression of their confi-
dence that there will be UAS type cer-
tification rules to pass. Having a large
aerospace company commit to passing
type certification for a production air-
craft means a large resource commit-
ment. When I was on the Air Staff I
spent more than $50 million to have
General Atomics' MQ-9/Reaper pass
Air Force airworthiness standards
and civilian standards are much more
exacting—and expensive. What's more,
commitment to a civil certifiable UAS
means these companies think there is
enough of a commercial UAS market
to manufacture aircraft that may need
THE METHOD BEHIND ALL THIS MADNESS IS A DECISION BY THE BIGS THAT THE
MAJOR GLOBAL CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITIES ARE FINALLY SERIOUS ABOUT
APPROVING LARGE UAS COMMERCIAL FLIGHT IN CONTROLLED AIRSPACE.
MAJOR GENERAL JAMES O. POSS (RET)
is a leading expert on UAS, having targeted
the first armed UAS strikes, designed the U.S.
Air Force's remote split operations system
for UAS control, and designed the Distributed
Common Ground Station for UAS intelligence
analysis. General Poss was the Executive
Director of the Alliance for System Safety of
UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE)
of the Federal Aviation Administration's
(FAA) Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
Center of Excellence Team. He is CEO of ISR
Ideas—an intelligence, unmanned systems
and cyber warfare consulting company
with decades of intelligence community
experience, coupled with insider FAA
knowledge.
General Overview by James Poss, Maj Gen (RET) USAF
Photo courtesy of General Atomics.